Rio Fedinand's wife has sadly died

Absent is in NZ so probably there is not the same coverage of football in their media. Can't say I know any NZ footballers although I'd recognise the sports colour scheme. I always think it's a battle against cancer with the massed ranks of surgeons and oncologists fighting your foe like knights in shining armour . Field of the cloth of gold is always my view of the battle against cancer.

absent wasn't saying that "losing the battle" was ridiculous. She was saying that using the term "battle" is, in her view, ridiculous because it puts the onus on the person who is ill to "beat" the disease. Possibly that competitive element may work for some people but it may also cause others whose condition is worsening to feel like failures in that they haven't "battled" hard enough. I agree with her.

I'm surprised that some people don't even know who Rio Ferdinand is. I'm no fan of football but even I know who he is. I don't think it's necessary to know someone personally to feel some sadness if you happen to hear about their death - particularly as this woman was relatively young and she has children.

Surely we all 'battle' against whatever illness we have, and losing that battle is a sadness, never ridiculous, I think perhaps just a bad choice of words, and the sympathy is still there with a loss of a wife and mother.

To my mind not ridiculous at all.

It is always sad when someone dies before their "allotted span" but I have no idea who this woman is. I hate the expression "battle" with cancer – what a failure she must be, therefore, because she lost her "battle". How ridiculous is that?

What a shame, he's always seemed to be a decent guy and she looked stunning. God bless.

He had a very successful career as a footballer and played for England Ariadne. He does some commenting on sports programmes and comes across as a very nice family man. It is very sad for him and his family. I hope he has good people to support him.

It's always sad when this happens, but who is he?

Here too. Money cannot buy health or happiness.

Very,very sad for Rio and his family.Thoughts are with them.

Yes I saw that. Amid all the happiness over the new royal princess, I saw this come up on a news feed, and it reduced me to tears - the sharp contrast between these two families in the news today was a bit too much for me.

Very sad, tragically young too.